UK Tech Companies ‘Punching Above Their Weight’

Buoyant tech sector expects rise in business activity and recruitment.

The booming UK tech sector is outstripping the UK economy as a whole in terms of business activity and hiring rates, according to KPMG findings.

The latest KPMG/Markit Tech Monitor UK report has found that almost 50% of UK tech companies expect to hire staff over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, the PMI Employment Index shows that current job hiring by UK tech companies is close to its strongest for three years, and faster than the UK private sector average.

Business activity growth in the first quarter of 2014 was also strong, almost as fast as the ten-year high reached at the end of 2013.

Improved domestic economic outlook, increased investment spending and buoyant client demand were all indicated by the findings as key factors in the strength of the tech sector’s performance. Survey data also showed that tech firms benefitted from higher selling prices, weakening cost inflation and rising new business volumes during the first quarter of 2014.

Tudor Aw, Head of Technology at KPMG, said the findings “…point to a UK tech sector that is in rude health, and increasingly optimistic in its outlook on business activity and recruitment plans.

“Our data also shows the positive impact the sector has on the UK’s economic performance as a whole and the important role UK tech companies up and down the country play in the burgeoning recovery. It is time the sector received the recognition and support it deserves. There are some fantastic advocates in government and business for the UK’s buzzing start-up scene but we must not neglect the wider tech sector.

“The latest survey suggests that the tech sector again outperformed the UK economy in terms of job creation, reflecting widespread optimism that workloads will continue to expand over the months ahead. Moreover, a buoyant mood among tech companies about future job hiring intentions bodes well for growth in the year ahead and is a further signal that the UK economy is set to continue its upward ascent over the course of 2014.”

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